On 27 Jul 2006 at 15:29, Pete Holsberg wrote: > And I have no room to add another answering machine. > Hmmmm...maybe I could buy a bigger desk -- mine is only 4.5 feet > wide -- and then I would have room. Would that be simpler than > using answering machine software??? ;-)
Honestly, yes. I've used most of the products on the market at one point or another. Faxworks, Talkworks, Communicate Pro, etc etc. ALL of then have shortcomings of one kind or another. My PC was my answering machine for almost 10 years, I stopped using the PC for voicemail about 3 years ago. I started with Faxworks on a windows 3.1 machine with 4 or 8mb of memory. I would answer the call, take the message and thrash on the drives processing each message for like 10 or 15 minutes :-( Here's what you should expect with pc based voicemail EVEN if you are used modems that are tested and certified by the software publisher. 1) Line hung - caller hangs up, modem/software does not 2) No answer - modem/software ignores incoming call Those are the nice problems. In the 10 years I was using PC based voicemail, I went through AT LEAST 50-75 voicemodems trying to find the holy grail. I tried expensive ones, cheap ones etc. Unix based voicemail applications have tended to be a bit more robust in my experience than the MS Windows counterparts. I was using Symantec's Talkworks when I finally packed it in. I still run it on my main desktop but ONLY for receiving faxes. The next voicemail machine I build with be based on the opensource Asterisk and use certified hardware. http://www.digium.com/en/index.php Being that it also handles VoIP, it's pretty slick. -- Harondel J. Sibble Sibble Computer Consulting Creating solutions for the small business and home computer user. [EMAIL PROTECTED] (use pgp keyid 0x3AD5C11D) http://www.pdscc.com (604) 739-3709 (voice/fax) (604) 686-2253 (pager) -- ---------------------------------------- WIN-HOME Archives: http://PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM/archives/WIN-HOME.html Contact the List Owner about anything: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html
